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Please Help!

My son is 6 months old, and up until a week - week and a half ago he slept in his own bed with no problem, I would usually get up once or twice a night if at all to nurse but then he started teething and that went out the window... He gets up every hour now, screaming at night and nap time is none existent. He use to take 2 hour naps, now I put him down and he is out for 5 minutes if I'm lucky and then up screaming.

Both bottom teeth have already cut through so I don't understand what is going on.. His top teeth are not coming yet so its not that. He doesn't have gas, he isn't hungry.. I'm going on two weeks with no sleep or any kind of relief. He is miserable.. Tired, and definitely upset with me because I'm not meeting his needs... I would but I don't know what he needs. I have tried Tylenol, oils, sound machines, rocking, nursing, letting him cry but I can't do it anymore. I need a break and I can't figure out how to help him.

Re: Please Help!

I think a lot of moms who don't initially set out to co-sleep end up doing so right about when their babies start teething. And your son is right at the age for more teething (even if you can't yet tell which teeth are coming, they absolutely might be breaking their way through the jawbone they are encased in, making their way to the gums where you will begin to feel them later). He's also the right age for learning a whole lot of physical skills: sitting unassisted, crawling, maybe pulling up. And it's really hard for babies practicing new development skills to settle at night. Their bodies are busy, and their minds are tired. Have you considered sleeping with your baby (even just until this stage is over) so that you can nurse during the night without getting up, or even fully waking up? It could give you the respite you need to get through this next little bit of your baby's development.

Re: Please Help!

I co-slept previous to this and I worked so hard to get him to sleep in his own bed without torturing him (aka crying it out).. I have tried to nurse him in my bed again to get him to rest and sleep but he refuses to stay latched any longer then one or two minutes and starts crying again. If I felt like going back to co sleeping would work I would do it but he has already shown me that he won't even do that anymore..

The crawling, rocking, sitting up on his own is all happening right now with his two bottom teeth cutting through... so i can see why is might be difficult for him to want to sleep but does this stage ever pass?? I mean we had a good month of amazing sleeping, great naps, and then all of a sudden He's up every hour, naps don't exceed 5 minutes and no matter what I do he cries.

I feel like I'm a complete failure and the no sleep thing is really getting to me..

Re: Please Help!

Have you tried putting him to sleep at an incline? Like a wedge under his mattress or naps in a bouncy chair or swing? When DS had earaches or was teething, that always helped. Laying down flat made the blood rush up to his head and made it hurt worse. There was a whole month where he only slept in his bouncy chair, with the vibrator and ocean noises.

Re: Please Help!

We went through a similar stage that lasted January through August of this year (not trying to scare you - this is what my child did). He got 8 teeth from April to July (including an ear infection and URI, then strep throat in August) along with the crawling, sitting unassisted, crusing, etc, I thought I was going to explode. The teething pain was settled by Advil/Motrin only - Tylenol did nothing - neither did cosleeping. We gave him the recommended dosage for his weight about 30 minutes before bedtime. Have you had his ears checked? Even with little to no symptoms, there might be fluid building up (especially with the changing weather lately) that is causing pain - which may warrant an antihistimine (such a Benedryl) to help clear the allergies. This too shall pass Momma, I know it is rough, but you can make it. Get his ears checked and try the Advil. Good Luck sweetie!